John Wayne | dual personalities

May 22, 2020

“Take ’em to Missouri, Matt.”*

by chuckofish

Huzzah! We have a long weekend ahead of us and perhaps some actual places to go! Or we may just stay in and listen to music and watch movies, because–of course–it’s supposed to rain all weekend!

Monday is Memorial day and one of the ways I typically observe Memorial Day, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military, is to watch a good war movie. Here are a few suggestions, mostly old movies as is my wont, but please note I have included one from the 21st century!

They Were Expendable (1945) John Ford directed this story of a PT boat unit defending the Philippines during WWII. John Wayne and Robert Montgomery star.

Cry Havoc (1943) A mostly all-female cast portrays a group of Army hospital volunteers stationed in Bataan during WWII. In some ways it is standard wartime melodrama, but the ending, as the brave nurses and volunteers fall into the hands of the Japanese, is quite powerful. Margaret Sullavan and Joan Blondell star.

Twelve O’Clock High (1949) Gregory Peck stars as a general who takes over a bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into shape before collapsing himself under the strain.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Robert Emmett Sherwood adapted MacKinlay Kantor’s story of veterans returning to their hometown after service in WWII. William Wyler directed; Frederic March, Dana Andrews, Myrna Loy, Harold Russell star.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) Captain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending Indian uprising following the disaster at the Little Big Horn. John Ford directed; John Wayne stars.

Hacksaw Ridge (2016) An Army medic and conscientious objector becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor for incredible acts of valor without having fired a shot. The scenes during the Battle of Okinawa in WWII are very intense and more graphic than I like to see, but the movie is a good one. Directed by Mel Gibson and starring Andrew Garfield and Sam Worthington.

Monday is also John Wayne’s birthday (🎉🎉🎉) so I will probably be leaning toward They Were Expendable.

Last Monday (our regular John Wayne movie night) I watched Red River (1948) and it was great. John Wayne and Montgomery Clift play so well off each other. Clift was never better.

So you might want to check it out as well.

I should also note the passing of Indian-born Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias. Ravi’s ministry gradually evolved, but his basic focus remained the same: to “help the thinker believe and the believer think.”

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In March doctors discovered a malignant tumor when he underwent back surgery. He began receiving treatment, but two months later they deemed his cancer untreatable and he died shortly thereafter. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

And I really want one of these face masks from the National Cowboy Museum! #HashtagTheCowboy…

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*Tom Dunston to Matthew Garth in Red River. They end up taking ’em to Kansas, of course, in order to avoid the marauding border ruffians in Missouri.

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May 12, 2020

“You’ll do.”*

by chuckofish

Well, since we’ve been in quarantine, Monday nights are John Wayne movie nights. Last night we watched The Cowboys (1972)–the one about the cattle drive led by the Duke and a bunch of kids recruited to replace the cowboys who have gone off to search for gold.

Screen Shot 2020-05-11 at 8.50.15 PM.png It was real good and I recommend it, along with John Wayne Monday nights. Mondays are hard, what with Zoom meetings and starting back to the work week.

I had a super fun weekend. Daughter #1 came home and we saw the wee babes twice. Both times they were in fine fettle and glad to be frolicking outside and playing with their old toys inside.

Lottie with “her people”

We also drove to a county park we had never been to–Bee Tree Park which overlooks the Mississippi River–and explored it. We discovered it while perusing one of our books on St. Louis. South County is terra incognita, but we’re not scared.

Screen Shot 2020-05-11 at 9.10.09 PM We also listened to a lot of old CD mixes from 15 years ago. Very angsty. Remember this one?

Admit it, you were singing along.

We ordered take out brunch for Mother’s Day and take out margaritas for Saturday night. We are adapting to the quarantine as best we can.

*Will Andersen in “The Cowboys”

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March 29, 2019

“In the long run, you hit only what you aim for.”*

by chuckofish

Well, my hard week is almost over, but next week doesn’t look much better.😩

C’est la vie.

I plan to have a restorative weekend. We all have our personal self-comforting techniques and I will utilize all of mine. Screen Shot 2019-03-28 at 5.37.41 PM.png

T.G.I.F. Enjoy your weekend.

*Henry David Thoreau

3 Comments

March 5, 2019

“I’ll call you Travis.”

by chuckofish

After a thirteen-day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 187 Texas volunteers defending the Alamo, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and Colonel Jim Bowie, were killed and the fort was captured on this day in 1836.

Join me in a toast to the brave defenders of the Alamo tonight, and while we’re at it, the state of Texas. I have never been there, but I’ll add it to my list.

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“Fall of the Alamo” by Robert Onderdonk

The battle created a strong desire for revenge among the new Texicans, who defeated the Mexicans at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, ending the war. Mexico would never recognize an independent Texas. The new country was later annexed by the United States in 1845, leading to the Mexican-American War.

Let’s all take a moment, shall we?

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January 8, 2019

From the mail department

by chuckofish

screen shot 2019-01-07 at 10.32.14 am I received an email, of which the following is a tidbit, from one of my oldest BFFs to whom I had sent Alleghany Uprising (1939) for Christmas.

Allegheny Uprising was GREAT!! You would think after reading your blog for years that I would have seen more John Wayne movies, but we had only seen a few classics (Stagecoach, The Quiet Man). That is definitely going to change and “watch more John Wayne movies” may actually qualify as one of my resolutions this year!!

I ask, what could be a better new year’s resolution than that?

As the poet Fernando Pessoa lamented, “One of my life’s tragedies is to have already read Pickwick Papers–I can’t go back and read it for the first time.” Alas, there are practically no John Wayne movies I can watch for the first time, but, readers, you can!

My son-in-law (DN) is woefully behind in his old movie watching, so I gave him The Great Escape (1963), The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1967) for Christmas–all of which he has not seen. Think of watching them for the first time!

[I must say there are some real spoilers in this trailer!]

Also from the mailbag: One of the books I bought at an estate sale last Saturday was a copy of Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, a favorite of mine. In it he recommends two books that “are always among my things…

…the Bible and the books of the great Danish writer, Jens Peter Jacobsen. I wonder whether you know his works…Get yourself the little volume of Six Stories of J.P. Jacobsen and his novel Niels Lyhne…A world will open up to you, the happiness, the abundance, the incomprehensible immensity of a world. Live a while in these books, learn from them what seems to you worth learning, but above all love them. This love will be repaid to you a thousand and a thousand times…

Sold!

I had never heard of J.P. Jacobsen before, but I will “live a while in these books.”

It’s January–try something new!

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July 27, 2018

Where the buffalo roam

by chuckofish

The weekend is upon us and we have several things to celebrate including the sixth anniversary of the boy and daughter # 3 on Saturday.

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We are babysitting so that they can go out to dinner. Keep the OM and me in your thoughts and prayers!

It is also the “National Day of the Cowboy,” which they celebrate with all due respect and in cowboy style at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Screen Shot 2018-07-26 at 11.10.46 AM.png I wish I was there, but since I am not, I will have to celebrate the best I can by watching cowboy movies at home this weekend.

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I know you know who all these cowboys of the silver screen are, but in case you don’t, they are (from the top): John Wayne, Steve McQueen and Robert Preston, Viggo Mortensen, John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, Alan Ladd, Dean Martin, Clint Eastwood, and Jimmy Stewart. Who is your favorite?

I will also take this opportunity to toast one of my favorite ancestors, John Wesley Prowers, cattleman and pioneer, who was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1963.

Sounds like a good plan to me!

[Please say a little prayer for the wee laddie who is having some minor surgery today to fix his slightly crossed left eye.]

5 Comments

May 28, 2018

Laying down the bunt

by chuckofish

Memorial Day (or Decoration Day) is the federal holiday in the United States when we remember the men and women who died while serving in the country’s armed forces.

So today I recommend watching They Were Expendable (1945), John Ford’s loving paean to the U.S. Navy, specifically the PT boat unit, Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, defending the Philippines from Japanese invasion during World War II. It is a case study in how to do wartime propaganda, but it is beautifully understated and moving.

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Robert Montgomery was never better.

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[After the U.S. entered World War II in December 1941, he joined the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander, and served on the USS Barton (DD-722) which was part of the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. He knew all about PT boats and the men who served on them; he helped direct the movie.]

John Wayne is, of course, terrific:

And the supporting characters are played by John Ford regulars, including Ward Bond, Jack Pennick, and the always wonderful Russell Simpson. Here he is watching the departing sailors after he refuses to go with them, preferring to stay and defend his property from the Japanese who are closing in.

Has “Red River Valley” ever been used more effectively? John Ford always gave his supporting players a chance to shine and they really do in this movie.

Gracious God, we give thanks for military men and women, both from the past and present, and for their courageous service and sacrifice to our country and its people to secure the blessings of life, liberty, and justice for all. May our remembrance be a timely reminder that our freedom was purchased at high cost, and should not be taken for granted. Give us resolve to labor in faithful service to you until all share the benefits of freedom, justice, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (BCP)

Enjoy the rest of the three-day weekend!

7 Comments

May 25, 2018

“Well, come see a fat old man some time!”*

by chuckofish

I am so ready for a three-day weekend! Quelle busy week leading up to it, of course. Phew.

Daughter #1 stopped at home last night on her way to Indianapolis and a fun reunion with her college pals. She will stop in on the way back on Monday. My other plans include babysitting for the wee babes for a few hours on Saturday (probably by myself, since the OM is under the weather)…

and then recovering from that activity by binge-watching John Wayne movies.

Screen Shot 2018-05-24 at 11.35.03 AM.png It is the Duke’s birthday tomorrow, so TCM is showing a whole bunch of his WWII movies:

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 8.49.25 AM.png I also have plenty of my own, thank you, so I can pick and choose.

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Sounds like a mighty good plan to me.

Have a good weekend!

[My DP is in England visiting her in-laws for a few weeks, so we won’t be hearing from her until she returns stateside.]

*Rooster Cogburn, True Grit (1969)

4 Comments

May 16, 2018

“Gonna build a mountain from a little hill”*

by chuckofish

Today we toast Sammy Davis Jr. who died on this day in 1990.

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Here’s an interesting tidbit for you: John Wayne loaned Sammy Davis Jr. his iconic cavalry hat (the one he had worn in all three of his John Ford-directed calvary films) to wear in Sergeants 3 (1962)–the pretty terrible remake of Gunga Din (1939) which starred the Rat Pack. That was a pretty cool thing for Sammy.

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You can read about the making of the movie here. I can’t really recommend actually watching this movie, as I loathe comedic westerns. If you are in the mood for a Sammy Davis Jr. movie, I would suggest The Cannonball Run (1981) in which Sammy and Dean Martin masquerade as priests in the cross-country car race (along with Burt Reynolds et al) and Dino gets to say, “If we were Methodists we’d have a good shot at gettin’ laid.” Zut alors!

Interesting tidbit #2: Sammy Davis Jr. was the first African-American to be invited to spend the night at the White House. Guess which president invited him? Yes, Richard Nixon.

Fun facts to know and tell.

*Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley

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May 4, 2018

“Ah, but I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now.”*

by chuckofish

Do you have one of those friends who is always sending you jokes and strange pictures of nature from the internet? Well, I do too. Here is something he sent me that Will Rogers

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allegedly said about growing older …

1. Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

2. The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

3. Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me. I want people to know ‘why’ I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren’t paved.

4. When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to your youth, think of algebra …

5. You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

6. I don’t know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.

7. One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it’s such a nice change from being young.

8. One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.

9. Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable and relaxed.

10. Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it’s called golf.

He makes some good points I think. Food for thought anyway.

This weekend I am going to go with “comfortable and relaxed.” I may go to an auction or I may stick to estate sales. I may clean the garage. Also, lest I forget, Pottery Barn is delivering a new sofa for our den on Saturday, so that will generate/necessitate some activity in that room. I do not buy “new” furniture very often, so comme c’est excitant!

Tonight is the preview party for the Print Fair at the Mercantile Library here in town.

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Old books, prints, wine, a silent auction–my kind of fun. On the other hand, the OM’s 45th high school reunion is this weekend, but I am begging off. I prefer to be comfortable and relaxed at home. Of course we’re never too chill to see the wee babes and their parents!

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